Keane observations about life, politics and sports.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Impeachable Conduct? You Decide

Impeachment proceedings should not be undertaken lightly. Whenever we down the path of presidential misconduct it is the cover up which really undermines an administration more than the initial misbehavior. That is true again in a matter involving President Obama and his crooked friend Kevin Johnson. Here are the basic alleged facts:
* Former NBA player and current Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson was investigated by the AmeriCorps inspector general, Gerald Walpin after people reported misuse of funds by Johnson when he was head of a private school funded by Americorps.
* Johnson is a friend and ally of Obama.
* Obama fired Walpin in June amid allegations of senility.
* Walpin filed suit in federal court in Washington in July alleging that he was fired improperly while investigating whether Johnson had misused federal grant funds.
* U.S. attorney ruled in favor of Walpin that he was removed improperly.
* Johnson's fiance, Michelle Rhee, who is now DC schools chief, handled the "damage control" after the sexual misconduct charges arose against Johnson.
* Walpin has not been reinstated.

This scandal and the administration cover up have received scant reporting in the lamestream media. Does anyone doubt it would lead the evening news every night if a Republican president fired an inspector general who was investigating his buddy?

Does impeding an investigation of misuse (fancy word for theft) of government funds rise to the level of impeachable behavior? When you get down to it Nixon was hounded out of office for impeding an investigation into misbehavior by his underlings. Funny thing is based on his naive foreign policy mentality, we have considered Obama to be serving Jimmy Carter's second term and it turns out he is looking more and more like Nixon without the competence (or press scrutiny).

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6 Comments:

Blogger bob said...

Impeachment should happen so infrequently that we don't hardly know what to expect during the proceedings.

I think Obama is ruining this country but I would not be for impeachment. Problems will not be corrected through impeachment. Too many people are under the mistaken idea that Obama is doing a credible job.

November 21, 2009 at 3:04 AM

 
Blogger LargeBill said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

November 21, 2009 at 6:51 AM

 
Blogger LargeBill said...

Concur. The question was intended to be provocative. Wanted people to step back and consider how serious it is to fire an investigator. Half of the problem with Watergate was Nixon's firing of the prosecutors. It is not much of a stretch to compare Walpin to Achibald Cox.

The other point that came to mind after doing the post was how reckless it was for the administration to can Walpin. This was an unforced error. If they conduct all their business like that we are in real trouble. This is truly amateur hour.

November 21, 2009 at 6:56 AM

 
Blogger Obiter Dictum -- An American said...

Amateur hour, indeed. But, what is the alternative when, on the other side, maybe...just maybe, Obama critics are promoting another neophyte--Sarah Palin.

The other night Bill O'Reilly asked Plain: 'Do you believe that you are smart enough, incisive enough, intellectual enough to handle the most powerful job in the world?'

So, does Palin step up to the plate and deliver a grand slam?

Palin: 'I believe I am ...'

You (Palin) are vying for probably the most powerful position in the world, and you are, eh, not quite sure!!!

Compared to criterion established in electing, at least, the past three Presidents, a decisive Palin would have answered, 'perhaps I am over qualified!'

(sorry for going a bit off topic, but your 'amateur hour' comment was too tempting to ignore)

Note to LargBill--'thanks for the add.'

November 21, 2009 at 9:18 AM

 
Blogger bob said...

Obiter, I find it interesting that during the election one of the biggest misgivings people had was Sarah Palin's inexperience. I argued with many Dems that Obama had less experience. Still they went back to her experiene only she was not running for the top slot at the time.

Personaly I don't think she is going to run.

November 22, 2009 at 2:24 AM

 
Blogger Ben said...

This story has basically died out thanks to the media - to the point you dont hear about it.

This looks to be far worse than the ballyhooed "Bush attorney firings" that was legal and fine but attracted much attnetion.

But when you have a media that doesnt care about what you do, then its going to be okay.

November 24, 2009 at 5:38 PM

 

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